The mojo is back in their corner!

The University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team erased that troublesome 23-point loss to Cal State Northridge and fended off the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners, 81-70, on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

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Gytis Nemeikša and Tanner Christensen led the way with 17 points with Christensen posting nine rebounds to Nemeikša's four. Kody Williams logged 16 and was 3-for-7 from 3-point range.

Jemel Jones led the Roadrunners and all players with a whopping 29 points on 12-for-30 shooting. Corey Stephenson was the only other Roadrunner to crack double-digits with 18 on 7-for-17 shooting. The two combined for 47 of Bakersfield's 70 total points before they fouled out.

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Nemeikša drew first blood via a triple, and Christensen sank two free throws to give UH the first five points of the game. Williams got in the fray with back-to-back triples, and it was now 12-4 UH early.

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Unlike Thursday night when Northridge uncorked a 19-4 run to ultimately run away and hide, UH came out with fire, passion, and most importantly, desire.

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With 10:22 remaining, UH held its biggest lead at 23-11 off a Nemeikša second-chance layup. They would see their lead shrink down to as little as five, but the 'Bows answered every run that Bakersfield threw their way despite 10 turnovers committed in the first half alone.

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Bakersfield got a bit of momentum via a Marvin McGhee IV triple with five seconds left, but they were still down, 42-35, at halftime. Jones led all players with 12 points.

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Stephenson began the second half with a jumper, but UH responded and scored the next six unanswered to pull out their lead to 11 less than a minute in.

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Bakersfield uncorked an 8-0 run to cut the gap down to three with 11:49 remaining, but UH answered that bell, too.

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Marcus Greene sank a triple in the corner to put the gap back to six off an assist from Aaron Hunkin-Claytor. Greene would end up with six points overall off of two triples.

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With 9:47 remaining, Bakersfield scored six unanswered to put them down just one, 57-56. That was the closest they would get though, as UH would score six unanswered of their own to create some distance again. Bakersfield stayed close by, but they did not see the lead for two seconds.

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With 4:55 remaining, Jones was called for a travel, which later turned into a double technical foul when Nemeikša put his hand on the ball, and Jones shoved it away.

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At that time, it was 68-63 UH. The 'Bows kept their gap above two possessions for the rest of the game. They made their free throws down the stretch for the final arithmetic.

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With the win, UH improves to 4-3 in Big West play and 12-6 overall. They are now tied for fourth in the standings with UC Santa Barbara, CSUN, and UC Riverside.

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UH will now hit the road for two games at UC Davis on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 4 p.m. HST, and first place UC Irvine on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. HST. You can listen to both games on ESPN Honolulu.